B2B marketers are rethinking event strategies & budgets. 🤔 Fuel ROI with webinars in 2025. Read the Forrester report

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Zs increases leads | Customer Case Study | ON24

B2B marketers are rethinking event strategies & budgets. 🤔 Fuel ROI with webinars in 2025. Read the Forrester report

Get started
Get started

How ZS made webinars its #1 source of leads with engaging events, insightful data

  • #1

    Webinars have become the #1 source of lead generation

  • 72%

    registrant to attendee rate, highest conversion they’ve ever had

Capabilities

Industry

Use Cases

Number of Employees

  • 10,000+

Introduction

ZS, a global management and professional services firm, focuses on consulting, software and technology. From digital transformation to process automation and next-level data analytics to AI-powered applications, ZS develops and delivers high-tech solutions to companies in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, among others.

The ZS annual Impact Summit is an opportunity for business development and, more importantly, to showcase ZS thought leadership to its loyal client base. Prior to COVID, about 200 people attended the in-person event. That number almost tripled when the summit went virtual.

To make the most of this expansion, ZS strove to create an engaging, interactive event, even at a distance. The company also wanted to capture audience data that ZS associates could use to nurture clients and prospects. ON24 proved to be a flexible, powerful tool that helped ZS meet these goals — and more.

Problem

Bringing an in-person feel to online events

The annual ZS Impact Summit is the company’s largest client event. When COVID forced the company to switch to a virtual conference, ZS saw both the opportunities and challenges ahead.

“We wanted to ensure that everyone was getting the in-person experience,” Emma Knuckman, ZS event marketing lead, said. The audience would be larger — 600 registrants versus 200 attendees in-person — and keeping them tuned in was critical.

“We had to let our customers see the best of ZS and keep our sessions engaging,” adds Emilie Watrob, head of event marketing. “And we wanted to add some elements to help with retention rates during the day, and then drive on-demand content.”

The summit led into a series of monthly webinars that also needed reimagining. “In the past, we went with Zoom webinars,” says Knuckman. “But we were really looking for a better experience that was more on-brand.”

ZS turned to ON24 Virtual Conference and ON24 Webcast Elite to help deliver virtual events that are enjoyable, inspiring, and 100% ZS.

“Two things that really stand out are ON24’s flexibility and the way it enabled us to incorporate a number of super fun and engaging pieces into our virtual summit —and it all still felt like our event.”

Emma Knuckman, Event Marketing Lead

Solution

A flexible, brandable virtual conference and webinar solution

Virtual Conference is flexible in both design and features — exactly what ZS wanted when developing its event. “We leveraged our design team to make sure that everything, starting with the console, reflected the ZS brand,” Knuckman said.

ON24 also supported the many facets of the event. “The keynotes, the general sessions, the breakouts — everything was really easily navigable from our home screen,” Watrob said. “We had a mix of live and on-demand sessions, and incorporated engagement features like the group chat, Q&A widgets and surveys.”

The summit also featured a networking social lounge, a charity scavenger hunt, photo booth and more. “Even though, for instance, the photo booth and the after-hours weren’t necessarily through ON24, they were seamlessly incorporated in the environment.”

ZS also uses ON24 to create and run its Impact Series webinars, which are available on the ZS website for anyone to join. “We’re doing two to three webinars a month and they strategically align with our marketing campaigns,” Knuckman said. Registration is handled through ON24.

“The ON24 webinars reflect our brand in look and feel,” Knuckman said. “We’ve gotten really inspired by some of the guidelines and examples in the ON24 design library. Now we can make our webinars look amazing and really showcase our brand.”

ON24 also offers actionable insight into who interacts with any ZS virtual event. “We use the ON24-provided metrics a ton,” Knuckman said. “From ON24, our leads go into Marketo and into nurture campaigns. We’re just getting started. Webinars have now become our number one source of leads.”

Results

The ZS team is enthusiastic about what ON24 has helped them accomplish in a short time, and about what lies ahead.

“Two things that really stand out are ON24’s flexibility and the way it enabled us to incorporate a number of super fun and engaging pieces into our virtual summit — and it all still felt like our event,” Knuckman said. “The ease of viewing and ease of navigating the environment went a long way with our audience. We have seen some pretty great engagements, specifically with the surveys.”

Metrics gathered by ON24 have informed ZS marketing efforts, which have, in part, led to a steadily growing audience for its webinars. “We’ve seen a 47% plus retention rate with our webinars, which is pretty great,” Knuckman said.

“And now that we have our first year with ON24 under our belt, the ideas are just flowing for what this summit is going to look like in the hybrid capacity for next year. It’s all pretty exciting.”

“ON24 webinars reflect our brand in look and feel. We’ve gotten really inspired by some of the guidelines and examples in the ON24 design library. Now we can make our webinars look amazing and really showcase our brand.”

Emma Knuckman, Event Marketing Lead

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